Following a searing hot first day at Sepang International Circuit, the riders rejoined the track on Thursday to continue working towards the 2019 season opener next month, with Alex Rins and Joan Mir both trying a new fairing, new swingarm, and some electronics settings.

With track and air temperatures at 54ºC and 31ºC respectively, it was another physically tough day and the riders worked very hard. However, the overall feeling from the team was a positive one and they were able to try more new parts and continue to build the 2019 package.

Rins completed 61 laps and was very happy with his day, both in terms of testing and lap times. He finished the session in 2nd place again, improving on his Day 1 time to set a best of 1:59.424.

Mir, feeling more comfortable with each outing, focused his day on learning and giving feedback on the new parts. He held 21st place at the end of the six hour session, shaving around half a second off his Day 1 time. The youngster also put in a whopping 64 laps. Sylvain Guintoli continued testing new parts and providing valuable insight for the team, 24th as the flag came out.

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
“It was another good day, Alex worked very hard with a lot of testing and some comparisons. He had to be very patient and give a lot of feedback, which is not an easy task, especially with this heat. At the end of the session he went for a time attack and achieved very good lap times, so that’s a positive sign and a good end to the day. We feel we’ve done a good job today, it’s made everything clearer in terms of set-up. Joan also worked very hard and we made progress with him too. Tomorrow he’ll continue his learning progress with more laps, and we’re happy with how it’s all going.”

Alex Rins
“Today was a very positive day; we tried the new fairing, some new electronics settings, and it was all good. My rhythm and race pace were very good, even on used tyres. We were able to confirm a lot of things, we still need to improve a little bit, but nothing major. Overall, I’m very happy with how it’s all going, and with my lap times too.”

Joan Mir
“Today we tried so many things! I’m quite tired from all the effort - it was a tough day. We were trying to discover the good points and the not so good, and I’m pleased with how it went. Tomorrow I hope to continue in this way, and I would like to make a time attack to see how that goes. I liked the new fairing I tried today, but we’ll have to analyse everything.”

Sylvain Guintoli
“Today we tested different things and some updated parts, and we found it was getting better and better. Yesterday was more like ‘performance testing’ and today we focused in more specifically on different areas, like the clutch for instance. It’s my fifth day of testing with the team here and I’m happy with the progress.”